Modern Musicology covers topics on rock and pop ranging mostly from 70s, 80s and 90s (with occasional excursions into 60s and 00s). Anything is fair game -- classic rock, R&B, folk, punk, prog, rap, metal, and more. Hosted by DJ and author Rob Levy, solo artist and former Aquanettas drummer Stephanie Seymour, drummer and author R. Alan Siler, and guy from London Anthony Williams.
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#119 - CASSETTE CULTURE w/ Rob Drew
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Our recent episodes on 1984 and Purple Rain have really put us in a particular mood, so now we're waxing nostalgic (pun intended) about the heyday of cassette culture! We're joined by author ROB DREW, whose new book Unspooled: How the Cassette Made Music Shareable examines the enormous impact that cassettes had on the music industry and cultural la…
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Continuing our examination of the music of 1984, we took a little time to celebrate one of the most important albums of that year: Purple Rain by Prince. We're joined by a good friend of ours, Jason de la Torre, a very knowledgeable Prince fan, to talk about this landmark album. Our discussion ranges from how we first came to know this album and wh…
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#117 - The Albums of 1984 Pt 2: Rock, Pop, Soul and Rap!
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We continue our look back at 1984 this week, revisiting the Rock, Pop, Soul and Rap releases of that amazing year! OurTh conversation covers many of the obvious releases like The Unforgettable Fire, Like a Virgin, Private Dancer, Beverly Hills Cop and more, plus some other great albums by Bowie, Siouxsie, Nick Cave, Marillion, Run-D.M.C., the Go-Go…
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#116 - The Albums of 1984 Pt 1: Hard Rock and Metal
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1984 was an incredible year for music, and it was a particularly strong year for hard rock and metal. We're joined by guests Courtland Lewis and Matt Alschbach of the Rock and Metal Profs Podcast for a great discussion of what factors made 1984 such a highwater mark for the genre, and we review some of our favorite releases of the year. We spotligh…
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#115 - Filmmaker OLIVIA SERAFINI-SAULI
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Filmmaker Olivia Serafini-Sauli hung around the New York music scene in the 90s, and she always had her camera at the ready. So when her friends in the band The New Rising Sons were on the verge of having all their dreams come true, she was there to chronicle it. However, in spite of sold out shows, a major label record deal, and a debut album reco…
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With the return of Anthony Williams to the show, he, Rob Levy and R. Alan Siler have an informal chin-wag about all the things we've missed talking about so far in 2024 -- what we've been listening to, reading, and doing. We talk about recent albums by Bruce Dickinson, Blaze Bayley, Judas Priest, Wings, Pineapple Thief, Sum 41, and more; the 2024 E…
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Jeff Slate and Earl Slick first met over 15 years ago. In that time they have performed and recorded together many times. Jeff is a guitarist, producer, frontman, journalist, regular guest host on SiriusXM. and ASCAP songwriter. Earl is a legendary guitarist, most known for his long association with David Bowie, his work on the Double Fantasy album…
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#112 - MICHAEL CARTELLONE Interview
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Rock fans would have first gotten to know Michael Cartellone from his work as the drummer in the band Damn Yankees with Tommy Shaw, Jack Blades, and Ted Nugent. After that, he joined the band Accept, and since 1999 he has been the drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd, with whom he has toured extensively and played on eight albums. He’s worked with many other…
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#111 - IAN WRIGHT of the JACK RUBIES
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This week we have the privilege of speaking with Ian Wright of the band The Jack Rubies! The band first hit the scene in the mid-80s with a series of British singles. After signing to TVT Records, they released two full-length albums, Fascinatin' Vacation in 1988 and See The Money in My Smile in 1990. They're now back, 34 years later, with their ne…
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Following the 1985 American Music Awards, the reigning elite of pop music all convened at A&M Studios to record the vocals for what would become one of the biggest singles in music history, "We Are the World". Spearheaded by Harry Belafonte, Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson, the session gathered together some of the most successful a…
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This week we have the pleasure of chatting with Grammy Award-winning recording engineer Craig Alvin. Craig has worked with artists like Hanson, Little Big Town, Amy Grant, Andrew Bell, and Brittany Howard, as well as on projects ranging from metal to symphonic to African marimba bands. He engineered the three most recent Kasey Musgraves albums, inc…
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On March 18, 1974 the debut album by Canadian power trio RUSH was released. Since then, they have become one of the biggest bands in the world, with a fanbase unlike any other. This week, Alan is joined by Gerry Schramm of the Something For Nothing podcast, and Vicki Hudson, lead vocalist of the tribute band The Spirit of Rush, to talk about that d…
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On February 11, Beyonce surprise-released a new country-western single, "Texas Hold 'Em", along with a second song "16 Carriages", the first two singles from her upcoming country music album. The song became the first recording by a Black woman to gain the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, despite some country radio stations initial…
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This week we're jumping in our musical wayback machine and setting the dials for 1974! We talk about some of our favorite albums from that year, with music by Linda Ronstadt, Bowie, ABBA, Fleetwood Mac, John Lennon, Sparks, Kraftwerk, Parliament, Dolly Parton, Donny and Marie and Funkadelic. It was also a huge year for Prog, so we talk about master…
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The first KISS album was released on February 18, 1974! To help celebrate that momentous occasion, Alan is joined by good friend Matt Alschbach of the Rock and Metal Profs Podcast! We talk about the brilliance of that debut album and how it set the template for everything that followed; Matt tells us about seeing the End of the Road show twice and …
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It's Awards Season again! In this episode we review the 2024 Grammy Award Ceremony. We talk about some of the outstanding musical moments from the show (like performances by Joni Mitchell, Tracy Chapman, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and more) and share our reactions to some of the awards presented. And, of course, we cover the BIG Ta…
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As soon as we saw the trailer for the Immediate Family documentary last year, we knew we wanted to review it on our show! The film covers the extraordinary careers of Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, Danny Kortchmar, and Waddy Wachtel, and the amazing music they've made over the years. They've been session players and band members for just about every ar…
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The Beatles, like most bands, started out as a cover band, but became arguably the most covered musical act in history. You can find covers of Beatles songs in literally every genre of music. This week, we talk about many of our favorite covers of Beatles classics, including different versions of "Helter Skelter"; weird covers by Tiny Tim, The Flam…
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We're very excited to have the opportunity to chat with Katherine Yeske Taylor, author of the new book She's a Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism, available now from Backbeat Books. In the book, Katherine talks to 20 musicians, from legends like Ann Wilson, Gina Schock, Suzi Quatro, Exene Cervenka, Amy Ray to younger artists like Tobi Vail, Lau…
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To celebrate our 100th EPISODE, we've turned the show over to our listeners! We asked our audience to send us questions that we would answer as we launch into our THIRD YEAR, and wow did we get some doozies! In this episode, you'll learn some of our dream guests, the weirdest gigs we ever played (or attended), how we would cast each other in a bloc…
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The Winter Holidays are full of great music! Anthony, Stephanie and Alan share some of their favorite holiday traditions and talk about their favorite Christmas music. And as you'd expect, it's an eclectic mix to say the least, ranging from traditional Latin hymns to heavy metal holly! We have a couple of controversial tunes, breakup songs, camels …
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To continue our 2nd Anniversary celebration, we are pleased to welcome back to our show Go-Go's drummer GINA SCHOCK! She has an insane amount of stuff going on right now. She tells us all about reviving her band House of Schock, and gives us the lowdown on their new single, “Smile Pretty.” She tells us the story behind her new visual art project Th…
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This week is our SECOND ANNIVERSARY! And we're celebrating by inviting back one of our favorite guests from last year -- musician and songwriter GARY CLARK. Mr. Clark is the composer of music for the new AppleTV Original Film, FLORA AND SON. He takes us behind the scenes to talk about the process of composing these songs, collaborating with actors …
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#96 - The Rolling Stone List of 250 Greatest Guitarists
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Rolling Stone Magazine is at it again! Another list specifically crafted to make music fans' heads spin! This time they count down their ranking of the 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time! And, this being Rolling Stone, there are both some very odd inclusions and exclusions. Anthony and Alan dive into this controversial list and highlight some of t…
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With the release of "Now and Then", the new single from The Beatles, comes reissues of the iconic two-volume collection, 1962 - 1966 (The Red Album) and 1967 - 1970 (The Blue Album). This week we are joined by Alan J. Porter, author of Before They Were Beatles: The Early Years 1956 - 1960 and host of the podcast Before They Were Beatles, to discuss…
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No matter how good a band or artist is, a producer can make or break them. A good producer can elevate mediocre material, and a bad producer can turn great songs into sludge. This week we're talking about some of the GREAT producers, those geniuses who work magic in the studio. We mention Eddie Kramer, Giorgio Moroder, Steven Wilson, Bob Ezrin, Bri…
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#93 - The Beatles ”Now and Then” (with Ira Elliot from Nada Surf!)
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We're at a moment in history -- the release of "Now and Then", the very last new recording by the greatest rock band in history, The Beatles. We're joined by Ira Elliot, the drummer of Nada Surf and the Beatles tribute band Bambi Kino, to analyze this old/new track and the "long and winding road" it took to see fruition. We talk about the song itse…
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GHOST In time for Halloween, we thought we'd do a show all about our favorite spooky band, Ghost! Alan and Anthony are joined by our good friend Vicki Hudson, lead singer of the Atlanta-based Rush tribute band, The Spirit of Rush, to do a deep dive into the culture of Ghost; seeing the band live; their influences; protesters outside of rock concert…
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GREAT FINAL ALBUMS Every artist or band eventually has a final album -- whether that be because of retirement, lack of interest, or in many cases, death. This week, Anthony, Rob and Alan talk about those bands or artists that went out on a high note, with a really great final album. We cover albums by The Beatles (but which one, eh?), David Bowie, …
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We recount some of our favorite OPENING BANDS we've ever seen! And trust me, we've seen a lot! We talk about some really unexpected bands like Opus, Billy Satellite, Flesh for Lulu, Red Rider, Molly Hatchet, Ned's Atomic Dustbin and The Plasmatics! You wanna hear stories? WE GOT STORIES! Like that time a member of Galaxie 500 peed in Rob's mother's…
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This week we take our musical time machine back to the year 1993! It's a crazy year with a lot of competing styles and genres, which makes it exciting! We talk about great albums by bands like Nirvana, Mazzy Star, Sarah MacLachlan, Crowded House, Daniel Lanois, Prince, David Bowie (two of 'em!), Matthew Sweet, Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys, Velocity G…
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HIPGNOSIS -- the graphic design team comprised of Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey "Po" Powell -- dominated the music scene in the 70s and 80s and created some of the most iconic album covers ever. Their client list included Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney & Wings, Peter Gabriel, Def Leppard, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, the Alan P…
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Have we got a fun one for you this week! Thanks to a suggestion by one of our regular listeners, Bill Lemmond, we are delving into the massive catalog of Novelty Songs and Parody Songs! And when you mention Parody Songs, obviously the first name that comes to mind is Weird Al Yankovic. But this topic offers so much more beyond Weird Al. We talk abo…
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This week Rob, Steph and Alan have the great pleasure of interviewing Evan Sult and Paige Brubeck, who together make up the rock duo Sleepy Kitty. We talk at length about their new BLESSING/CURSE, their philosophy of art, their influences, adding new players to their live shows, Paige's love of musicals, Evan's time in Harvey Danger . . . and, of c…
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WE'RE BACK! After a week off for Dragon Con (which Alan and Rob were attending), the Modern Musicology team is back with a new episode celebrating the 50th anniversary of the birth of HIP-HOP! 50 years ago, Cindy Campbell threw a party in the rec room of her family’s Bronx apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue and charged admission (.25 for la…
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This week we celebrate the (belated) 50th Anniversary of arguably the greatest rock album ever recorded, Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. We're joined by DJ, journalist, and self-professed Floydian Widgett Walls of NeedCoffee.com to discuss the history and impact of this groundbreaking album, its importance, and its legacy. It's the fourth bigg…
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Rob and Alan geek out on one of their favorite topics: music books! Both are avid readers of books of all types about music -- biographies, analyses, histories, what have you. The discussion goes from recent reads of books by John Robb, Richard Evans, Nick Hornby, Nick Griffiths, Jann Wenner, Susan Rogers, and more, and then we get into some of our…
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We continue on our journey through 1988 with the albums released in the second half of the year (June through December). We hit the highlights in rock (Bon Jovi, Pat Benatar, Crowded House, Nick Cave), rap (NWA, Public Enemy, Fat Boys, Stetsasonic), metal (Metallica, Slayer, Helloween, Anthrax), alt and industrial (Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Sonic You…
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The Modern Musicologists (Anthony, Rob, Stephanie and Alan) take a look at the albums that were released in the first half of 1988! We hit the highlights in rock (Robert Plant, Cinderella, Van Halen), rap (Boogie Down Productions, DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince, Run DMC), metal (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Queensryche), R&B (Prince, Sade, Ziggy Marley…
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This week we celebrate the anniversary of one of the most important and iconic phenomena of the modern music era: MTV. MTV began life on August 1, 1980 and within a few years changed the entire cultural landscape, from music and fashion to advertising to television. In this show we relive the glory days of MTV (you know, when they played music) and…
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#79 - Reviewing the WHAM! Documentary
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This week your hosts Rob and Alan, joined by our good buddy JM Tuffley, do the jitterbug as we take a peek at the new Wham! documentary on Netflix. Described by Decider as "a buddy film disguised as a music documentary, Wham! tells the story of how Andrew Ridgeley and George Michael met, became besties, formed a band, and achieved massive worldwide…
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#78 - METAL!!! (with Matt Alschbach)
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This week the MM gang (Stephanie Seymour, Anthony Williams and R. Alan Siler) is joined by Matt Alschbach of The Rock and Metal Profs Podcast to talk all things hard rock and heavy metal! We talk about where our love of metal began (for Alan and Matt it was two different shows on the same tour in 1979), the albums that mean the most to us, the usel…
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This week we're honored to be joined by Tommy Stinson, former member of The Replacements, Soul Asylum, Guns N' Roses, and Bash & Pop, to talk about his new album with Chip Roberts, Wronger. We talk about Tommy's songwriting process, writing songs so good they make your butt pucker, creating music in the digital / social media age, Prince and the Mi…
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What Makes a Great Singer? That's the question that we explore this week! This episode is a recording from a live we did on our Facebook Page and YouTube Channel on Sunday, July 2, 2023. We talk about what we listen for in a great singer, what part charisma and performance play in it, how genre matters, etc. And we talk about some of the iconic voi…
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You know those songs, or maybe an album or an artist, that totally catch you by surprise? Either it's an album that you discovered in a surprising way, or an artist you don't care for but that one song stood out for you, or maybe it's someone that you normally wouldn't like but something made you change your mind about them. That's what we're talki…
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This week we talk about the second half of 1983 -- July through December. With incredible debuts by Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Wham!, Metallica, Slayer and more, plus major releases from Yes (90125), Genesis (Genesis), Huey Lewis and the News (Sports), KISS (Lick it Up), Motley Crue (Shout at the Devil), Lionel Richie (Can't Slow Down), John Cougar Mel…
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Shoulder pads, spandex and Return of the Jedi -- it's 1983, baby! This week we look back at one of the most important years in music, with more huge albums and singles celebrating their 40th anniversary than you can shake a Cabbage Patch Doll at. The year is SO big, in fact, that we're splitting up into two episodes! In Part 1, we take a look at th…
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#72 - Rob & Steph’s Super Awesome Musical Explosion SHOW!
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What do you do when two of your co-hosts are absent and you had a guest cancel at the last minute? You improvise! That's exactly what happened this week as Stephanie Seymour and Rob Levy find themselves in the Modern Musicology studios alone! So what did they do? They interviewed each other! Rob and Steph share memories of their days working in rad…
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This week we have the pleasure of chatting with RICKY BYRD -- guitarist, songwriter, current solo artist, former member of the classic line-up of Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee. In this interview, Ricky talks about learning Beatles and Stones songs off the radio as a kid, seeing bands at the Fillmore East, Ma…
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#70 - The Music of Saturday Night Live
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This week we turn our attention to one of the greatest television institutions in history -- SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE -- and its amazing musical legacy. We talk about some of our favorite musical performances ever (and some of the worst, too), what artists the show introduced us to that became favorites, the performances that changed our minds (for good…
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